Sunday, 3 June 2012

6,000 years ago was warmer than the present

A paper published today in The Holocene finds that the elevation of the
treeline in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming was higher than the present
from ~9000 to 6000 years ago, indicating the climate was warmer during
that period as compared to present temperatures. The paper adds to
thousands of others indicating that the current warming period is
not unprecedented nor unusual compared to natural warming in the past.

The Holocene is a high impact, peer-reviewed journal dedicated
to fundamental scientific research at the interface between the long
Quaternary
record and the natural and human-induced
environmental processes operating at the Earth's surface today. The
Holocene emphasizes
environmental change over the last ca 11 500
years.